GLOBAL MASTERS AND WORLD CUP WESTERN EUROPEAN LEAGUE FINAL ANNOUNCED BY PERA FOR LAKE DISTRICT EVENT AT ARMATHWAITE HALL

The Armathwaite Hall Strongid-P event has today (March 15^th, 2001) been confirmed as the new venue for the PERA Global Masters competition, which will run at this year’s event over the weekend of July 20-22.

Previously hosted just once at Burghley, the Global Masters competition, open to all full members of the Professional Event Riders Association (PERA), will run as part of the Armathwaite Hall’s Strongid-P Classic section. The Classic section, which offers a specially commissioned bronze trophy and a first prize of £4000, will also be open to non-PERA members, so the prospect of two different high profile winners should add significantly to the event’s appeal.

PERA will also add around £3000 to the prize fund, with this amount - plus the impressive PERA Global Masters Trophy - going to the top placed riders in the Global Masters.

Speaking today at a press conference hosted by the Lake District venue’s on-site 4-star Country House Hotel, Acting President of PERA Eddy Stibbe also announced a further, very significant new international initiative from PERA, also to be centred on the Armathwaite Hall venue.

Eddy, who is also a member of the CIC World Cup Committee chaired by Jack Le Goff, enthusiastically revealed exciting plans for the prestigious Cumbrian venue to host the first of the new World Cup Western European League competitions at this year’s event, plus the Final at the 2002 fixture.

He confirmed, "I am working extremely hard to put everything in place to allow this new series to start at Armathwaite Hall in July, with the Final of the World Cup Western European League also at Armathwaite Hall in 2002."

The event’s joint organisers Charles Graves and Frank Hewett-Smith confirmed the event was delighted to host the PERA competitions, Charles commenting, "We have worked very hard for two years to establish a top class event that offers the best possible competition opportunities. We are obviously delighted with today’s announcement by PERA - it’s a tremendous boost for the sport of eventing, an endorsement of our efforts and confirmation that we are getting things right!"